


XCOM: Betrayers

by DraksonNightKell



Category: XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2020-07-31 01:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20106622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraksonNightKell/pseuds/DraksonNightKell
Summary: Many names are used to describe the Skirmishers. "Liberators", "Free ADVENT", "Resistance"... while some would label them as "Traitors" and "Deserters". Phalanx Squad wears all the titles with pride in their fight against ADVENT and the false gods. But when a raid against an ADVENT facility goes sideways, help arrives in the form of an unlikely ally.





	1. Forest Getaway

Alatall's boots sank into the soft dirt with each step as he ran through the thick underbrush of the forest. Magnetic rounds kicked up the ground around him, tore ferns apart and sent splinters flying off of trees. The Skirmisher didn't even flinch at the shots, nor the angry hissing of the Viper that was slithering behind him, keeping up. He vaulted over a log and took aim at the pursuers with his Kal-7 bullpup, pulling the trigger in bursts, sending lethal ballistic rounds past the Viper and into the ADVENT troopers behind her. The Viper took cover next to him behind the log, before raising her plasma rifle and sending a high-speed discharge of ionized gas straight through another trooper. One of the two remaining barked out an order, and they took cover behind two torn-up trees, peeking out to fire. Alatall and the Viper ducked down, and he readied his grappling hook. As the gunfire stopped and he heard a pair of boots slowly advancing, he stood up and fired the hook straight into the trooper; it pierced through the chestplate, the flesh beneath and the backplate, where it emerged and deployed its hooks. The Skirmisher pulled the surprised trooper in towards him and sidestepped, letting it slam into the log with a crunch. The hook folded and reeled itself in just as the last trooper, an officer, began falling back. The Viper didn't let it though, as she sent her long tongue out and grabbed hold of the officer's arm. As she pulled back, the ADVENT lost grip of their weapon before landing in a heap in front of them. As it groaned and started to get to their feet, another plasma discharge pierced the helmet and the skull inside; the officer fell back down, dead.

"Vox tala for ten."

The Skirmisher mumbled and looked at the bodies, then continued further into the forest at a brisk pace. The Viper hissed softly and followed after, slithering up beside him.

After a few minutes, they could hear the familiar sound of an ADVENT transport coming in. The Viper hissed and quickly darted up a tree as a spotlight shone through the canopy, and Alatall dove into a bush to hide. For a few seconds that felt like eternity, all he could hear was the transport’s engines, the turbulence they sent through the leaves and plants, and his own breathing inside his helmet. Then the spotlight moved away slowly as the ship continued its search. Slowly, the Skirmisher got out of hiding, looking up at the sky to make sure it was clear. From the tree, the Viper came slithering down the trunk and gazed up at the sky as well, hissing softly. Alatall looked at the pad he had attached to his left forearm, just to the side of the grappling hook; a translator device he had taken off a dead officer. It recorded her sounds, then quickly turned it into readable text.

_That was close._

“Indeed.”

He agreed, then continued moving slowly. The Viper came up beside him once more, looking around while her tongue darted out now and then to taste the air. The forest was almost pitch-black, no moonlight shining through the dark clouds above; luckily Alatall’s helmet had a low-light mode to let him see. A distant thunderclap heralded an approaching storm, and a the infrequent patter of raindrops started soon after. Only a slight downpour, but he knew that soon the floodgates would open, so to speak.

“We need to find shelter...”

He mumbled to himself, cursing the still-bound ADVENT soldiers. Thanks to a near miss, the communication module in his helmet had been destroyed. A soft hiss from the Viper caught his attention; she was pointing to something ahead. A rock wall, with what appeared to be a cave. He didn’t need the translator to understand her meaning. Shelter.

“A good find.”

Alatall commented, walking over to the entrance and looking inside, activating the flashlight on his Kal-7. It stretched inward about ten or so meters before curving off to the right. No heat signatures or emissions. Empty. He turned to his unlikely ally and nodded before heading inside with her in tow. After the bend it ended in a solid rock wall after about fifteen meters. At least they’d be far enough in to avoid detection from eventual patrols, if they bothered braving the storm. The Skirmisher walked over to the dead end and sat down with his back to it, removing the simple backpack he was wearing and setting it down beside him, along with his small bullpup rifle. The Viper came over slowly, coiling her tail up and “sitting” down by one of the sidewalls, a few meters away. Alatall looked at her, then took out and activated a simple heatlamp, placing it on the rocky floor. It illuminated the small area with a soft orange glow, and he smiled inside his helmet as he felt the warmth it produced starting to dry his hands. A silence followed as they both just sat there, the noises outside signifying that the rain was pouring down, with the occasional thunderclap. Eventually, he removed his helmet, looking to her with his large, blue eyes. Most people thought ADVENT soldiers were human, but one look underneath the helmet and there were clear differences.

“Why did you help me escape the patrols?”

He asked, moving his left arm to see the translator while still resting it on his knees. The Viper glanced over to him, then hissed a few words of her language quietly.

_I have been waiting for a chance to defect._

Alatall nodded understandingly with a soft sigh, looking at the lamp.

“But why? I thought your kind served happily.”

She rolled her red eyes and hissed again.

_We are forced to serve. I wanted freedom._

“Well… that’s a goal I can agree with.”

He mumbled, opening one of his belt pouches and taking a nutrient stick out. The Skirmisher took a bite of it and chewed the almost tasteless bar, looking up to catch the Viper quickly looking away.

“Hungry?”

He asked, not waiting for an answer as he took out another bar and tossed it in a high arc towards her. She hissed once more as she caught it, taking a large bite of it.

_Thank you._

Alatall nodded to her with a slight smile, quickly finishing his own bar before getting up, picking up his Kal-7 and holstering it on his hip. The Viper looked up at him, and he didn’t need the translator to understand what was on her mind.

“I’m going to keep watch. You get some rest, we will have to move as soon as the storm passes.”

He explained, grabbing his helmet and donning it. The alien nodded, then hissed again.

_What is your name?_

“I am Amodee Alatall of the Free ADVENT. You?”

_Bashilishelessa Sesstrasha._

Alatall looked at the pad, trying to pronounce it.

“Bashili… what?”

He could swear the Viper chuckled slightly, before repeating it. The Skirmisher tried once more, then shook his head.

“Is it okay if I call you ‘Bash’?”

She simply nodded in response, what looked like a small smile on her reptilian face.

“Alright. I will be over by the cave entrance.”

Alatall nodded back to her, then walked over to the bend and sat down on the far wall, so that he could watch both the entrance and the end where their very makeshift camp was. Bash slowly ate her nutrient stick, then curled up atop her coil by the heatlamp. He smiled softly inside his helmet, then looked back out at the pouring rain. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, the thunderous boom echoing a few seconds after. His squad was out there somewhere, likely waiting for him to make contact. He only had to find a way to do so.


	2. Creative Solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the storm passes, Alatall and Bash head out in order to put more distance between themselves and the facility, while planning their next move.

Hours passed by with no end to the storm in sight, when suddenly the rain started to let up. Alatall got to his feet and slowly walked over to the entrance, looking outside. The sky was still clouded, but they were lighter in color. The torrential downpour had turned into just a light drizzle. Good enough conditions for travel, but just bad enough to hide their tracks.

“It will do.”

He said to himself, heading back inside the cave and around the bend. Bash was still asleep, coiled up next to the heatlamp. The Skirmisher walked over to the lamp and turned it off, placing it inside the small backpack still resting against the rock wall, before turning to the Viper.

“Bash, we need to go.”

No response. He sighed and stepped over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Bash.”

She opened her eyes and looked around, then jolted to life and reared up, hissing angrily. Alatall took a step back, hands outstretched.

“Easy! It is me.”

Bash looked at him, then visibly relaxed and hissed softly, the pad already showing the translation.

_Apologies._

“No worries. The storm has passed, we should move now before ADVENT shows up.”

She nodded in agreement and uncoiled her body, stretching out to full length before grabbing her plasma rifle. The Skirmisher slung the backpack on and walked back towards the entrance, the Viper slithering right behind him. The rain outside was still a light drizzle, and no sign of any ADVENT forces on the ground, or transports in the air. They looked at each other and nodded before heading out, leaving their shelter behind.

The rain let up completely not long after, rays of sunlight shining down in the blue cracks between the clouds. The two had traveled in silence since leaving the cave, but now Bash finally spoke up.

_Where are we headed?_

“I do not know.”

Alatall answered honestly with a sigh.

“I need to find a way to contact my squad. Which means finding a radio or broadcast tower, or something else that can be used to transmit a message.”

The Viper stopped in her tracks, eyes downcast somewhat. Her gaze was distant, in thought. He stopped and looked back to her once he noticed she wasn’t beside him anymore.

“Bash?”

_I may have an idea._

She hissed, looking up at him.

_ADVENT may know. If we take one alive._

“Then I can extract the information.”

He finished, looking down at the Ripjack claw on his right gauntlet. A lethal weapon in close combat, but also a tool to literally hook into the brain of ADVENT soldiers and hack into the psionic network.

“A clever idea. But the question of locating one still remains.”

The Viper seemed to grin, raising her rifle and aiming it at the sky with a hiss.

_Not if we can draw them to us, ambush them._

She pulled the trigger to charge the rifle, then released a beam of plasma skywards, singeing the leaves above them. Alatall nodded, readying his grappling hook.

“To the trees!”

He called, deploying the hook towards the largest and thickest tree in the area. It hit the trunk and stuck, pulling him up into its branches. Bash nodded and hurried to another tree, slithering up the trunk and hiding amongst the leaves. A few minutes passed before an ADVENT transport could be heard approaching quickly. The Skirmisher looked up as it came into view, stopping just above where Bash had fired. The side doors opened and two troopers dropped down, followed by a more sleek stun lancer. They quickly looked around with rifles raised as the transport flew away again, back towards where it had came from. Alatall took aim at one of the troopers, the one closest to him, and opened fire. The rounds pierced its helmet and it dropped dead on the spot. The two remaining soldiers turned towards his tree just as a plasma beam killed the second trooper. The remaining lancer barked something in either surprise or fear – he wasn’t sure which – before running to another tree and taking cover behind it. Alatall dropped down from the canopy, hiding behind the trunk as the lancer opened fire towards him, bark and splinters flying as a result. While it was distracted by the Skirmisher, however, the Viper had dropped down out of view and slithered up behind it. With a hiss she quickly coiled herself around the soldier, immobilizing it. Alatall stepped out and came over towards the struggling ADVENT, holstering his bullpup and brandishing the Ripjack. The lancer groaned against the crushing coils, shouting all sorts of insults at them both. The Skirmisher stopped in front, looking at it while placing a hand on the helmet, keeping it in place.

“ADVENT kracsad. Vox tala for ten.”

He then jammed the claw up into its chin, the edges tapping into the psionic chip embedded in the back of the cranium. He only needed a quick look around before pulling the info he needed from the network, disengaging before pulling the Ripjack out. The lancer’s lifeless body fell to the ground as Bash uncoiled herself, looking at him with a hiss.

_Did you get what you need?_

“Indeed. There is an old communication outpost about 7,3 kilometers to the northeast. No longer in use, but still operational. However, once we broadcast a message, ADVENT will be onto us.”

He explained with a sigh, looking at her. She nodded in response.

_Then we go there, send your message, and hold until your friends get you out of there._

“Me? What about you?”

She hissed softly, looking away.

_I am Viper. Your resistance will never trust me. I will find my own way._

The Skirmisher shook his head and walked over, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“No. You helped save my life, you want to fight for our cause. The Skirmishers will extract us both out of here. And if not, I will make them.”

Bash stared at him in what seemed to be surprise, or maybe confusion. After a few seconds she came closer and, in a very human gesture, hugged him lightly, hissing a single word. Alatall already remembered the meaning of it.

_Thank you._

He was surprised by the hug, returning it awkwardly. She pulled back shortly after, nodding to him before hissing again.

_Let’s go then. To victory, and freedom._


	3. Radio Rescue Request

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alatall and Bash make their way to the communications outpost and hatch a plan to take it over, knowing full well that as soon as their message is out, ADVENT will be alerted to their location as well.

The walk to the communication outpost was one of the most miserable and time-consuming treks Alatall had been on. Over seven kilometers of walking through dense forests, rivers and even a patch of marsh had left him and Bash exhausted to the point where he’d rather hunker down for a full day. However, time was of the essence. They had to strike before ADVENT realized their plan and sent every available trooper in the area to the old station. As he stopped at the edge of the forest surrounding their target – a large, old brick building with a large antenna beside it, all surrounded in chain link fence – he cursed under his breath.

“I should have figured...”

Bash came slithering up beside him quietly, noticing what he had as well with a hiss.

_They are already here._

“Must have figured this was a likely place for us to head to, or perhaps they were already stationed here. We’ll have to take them out fast and silently to avoid them alerting their superiors. We need as much time as we can get.”

Alatall sighed and walked back a few meters to stay hidden, sitting down against a tree trunk.

“It will be dark within the hour. A short enough wait, and it will give us an advantage.”

The Viper nodded as she followed, coiling up beside him to relax as well. As the minutes passed her eyelids slowly closed and her upper body leaned more and more to the side, until her head rested on Alatall’s shoulder. The Skirmisher looked at his sleeping companion, smiling inside his helmet before gazing back up at the quickly darkening sky.

“Bash.”

Alatall crouched next to the Viper, who had curled up in her coils, and shook her shoulder gently. Her eyes opened and she straightened up, alert and awake in an instant. The forest was almost pitch black, a thick layer of clouds hiding any light from the moon and stars,

“I scoped the place out. Come on, I have an idea.”

He held a hand out to her, which she accepted and got up, her tail uncoiling and stretching. Alatall walked back to the treeline, pointing towards the right side of the station.

“Entrance is on the south side. One guard posted there, another patrolling inside, and an officer inside the building itself. No one else.”

_A light squad. Easy pickings._

Bash hissed softly, and the Skirmisher could have sworn he saw her smile. Or at least, as much as a Viper could smile.

“Come on. We’ll stick to the treeline to move around unseen.”

He got up from his crouch and began a quick jog through the trees, circling around to the south of the old communication station. The lone ADVENT trooper standing guard at the entrance was still present, standing completely still save for the head, slowly looking side to side. Not that it would do much to spot two figures in the dark woods on a moonless night. Alatall crept up to the closest tree before the open space between the woods and the small compound, looking at Bash.

“What do you think? Able to reach that far?”

The Viper eyed the distance, then nodded and leaned her whole body backwards in preparation for her move.

“Good. I got eyes on the patrol, wait for my mark.”

The Skirmisher’s thermal imaging let him keep an eye on all three ADVENT, focusing on the only one moving. It walked past the entrance, turned and headed away, to which Alatall nodded.

“Now.”

Bash threw her whole upper body forward, jaw opening as her tongue shot forward. Alatall had seen Vipers pull in enemies at relatively long range, but nothing like this distance. In just a second she pulled her body back, tongue basically reeling in her catch as the guard came sailing through the air towards them, landing in front of the two with a ‘thump’. Before he could get to his feet, the Skirmisher readied his Ripjack and drove it in under the gap in the helmet up into the trooper’s skull, killing him instantly and silently.

“One down. Let’s move fast.”

He said as the dual claws on his gauntlet retracted, sprinting across the open field. Bash followed behind him, the two rushing through the now-clear entrance and stopping at one of the corners of the structure. He gestured silently to her and then towards the door, and she nodded in response, slithering under the windows in the brick wall over to it. Alatall waited by the corner as he heard approaching footsteps, stepping out and taking the patrol by surprise. A swift punch and a body later the Viper opened the door and rushed inside, catching the officer off-guard as she coiled herself around her, tightening to the point a few ribs audibly snapped. Alatall followed inside, Ripjack at the ready. The officer barely had time to spit a curse at the Skirmisher before the claws penetrated her skull and downloaded the knowledge in her cerebral implant.

“A simple enough system to operate.”

Alatall commented as he pulled the claws out again, now covered in orange blood. Bash uncoiled and let the dead officer fall to the ground, looking around with a hiss.

_You can send a signal?_

“I can, yes. However, ADVENT will hear it as well, meaning they will be upon us shortly after I transmit. We will have to hold out until extraction arrives.”

The Viper nodded understandingly, then reached up to her head with another hiss.

_They may send others of my kind. We have to be certain you can tell me apart._

“How?”

In response she grabbed the headpiece of her armor, which was more decorative than protective, and dropped it to the ground.

_Like this. A sign of my new freedom. Now, send the message and I will start preparing for the assault._

She hefted her plasma rifle, and Alatall nodded before walking over to the main console. It was ancient, pre-invasion, but still functional. He grabbed the microphone, shaking off the dust, before turning it on and transmitting his message.

“This is Amodee Alatall of Phalanx Squad, requesting immediate extraction at source of this signal. ADVENT forces inbound, will hold position until arrival. Vox tala for ten.”

He fell silent, double checking that it had been transmitting before shutting the system down again. Bash was already at work taking whatever she could find to help barricade the very obvious weak points of their holdout; the many windows, most of them already broken.

“The message is sent. All we can do now is wait.”

_Are you certain they will come for us?_

She hissed as he came over to help out with the makeshift barricades.

“Yes. We Skirmishers leave no one behind.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yup, yet another new series. This one has been in the works for some time, and is still being worked on further. Let's see what kind of crazy adventures awaits this time, eh?


End file.
